Stargazing Objects

Celestial Objects for Star Party Sessions

(Month by Month) 

November

Open Clusters (distance in ly, # of stars, age in My)

• M34 Perseus (1500 ly, 400 stars, 200-250 Myrs old)

• M36 Auriga (4300 ly, ~200 stars, 25 Myr old)

• M37 Auriga (4500 ly, >500 stars, 350-550 Myrs old)

• M38 Auriga (3480 ly, ~100 stars, 290 Myrs old)

• M39 Cygnus (1000 ly, a few dozen stars, 230 solar masses, 280 Myrs old)

• NGC 869 & 884 Double Cluster in Perseus (7600 ly, 14 Myrs old)

Globular Clusters (distance in light years, number of stars, diameter in light years)

• M15 Pegasus (30 Kly, >100K stars, ~170 ly dia, central black hole?, x-ray source)

• M2 Aquarius (55,000 ly, ~150,000 stars, ~175 ly dia, 13 billion years old)

Galaxies (distance in light years, diameter in light years, number of stars)

• M31 Andromedae (2.5 Mly, 300K ly dia, ~1 trillion stars, collision in ~5 billion yrs)

• M33 Triangulum (3.2 Mly, 61,000 ly dia, ~40 billion stars)

• M81 UMa (12 Mly, 96K ly dia, ~200 globular clusters, 70M suns black hole)

• NGC 253 Sculptor (cigar, 11.4 Mly, 90,000 ly dia, 5M suns black hole)

Planetary Nebulae (distance in light years, diameter in light years)

• M57 Ring Nebula (4100 ly ~2.6 ly dia)

• Helix Nebula in Aquarius NGC 7293 (650 ly, ~6 ly dia)

• M27 Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula (1360 ly, ~3 ly dia)

Emission/Diffuse Nebulae (distance in light years, diameter in light years)

• M1 Crab Nebula Taurus, 6500 ly, ~11 ly dia, 1054 AD SN, pulsar 18 mi dia

• M42 Orion 1300 ly, ~24 ly dia

Double Stars (colors, separation ", orbit period, distance)

• g Andromedae  (orange-blue, 9.8”, 4,748 yr, 390 ly)

• Mizar (14.4”, 83 ly, thousands of yrs period, spectroscopic binaries, + Alcor)

• h eta Cassiopeiae (yellow-orange, 12”, 480 yr, 19 ly) 

• Albireo b Cygni (blue-gold, 34.4”, >100,000yrs??, 420 ly)

• e Lyrae (double double, 208”, 2.6”, 1800 yrs,  2.3”, 720 years)